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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday hailed a trilateral framework agreement signed on Friday by Lebanon, Israel and the US aimed at achieving a peace deal between the two neighbouring countries.
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Netanyahu called the US-brokered agreement a historic achievement that dealt a setback to Iran and Hezbollah, the prime minister said “Yesterday … we achieved a historic deal for the state of Israel after direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a televised briefing. “This is a blow to Iran and Hezbollah”.
The agreement, reached after five rounds of talks in Washington, includes a trial plan for Lebanese soldiers to take control of two areas held by Israel and a process to disarm Hezbollah.
According to the agreement, Israel and Lebanon “declare their intent to conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes, and to therewith formally conclude any state of war between them.”
As well as establishing a process by which the Lebanese Armed Forces would restore “sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory,” once the disarmament of Hezbollah has been secured.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun considered the agreement “a first step” to restoring his country’s sovereignty.
In the meantime, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the US facilitated agreement, claiming that the Lebanese government could not be trusted to disarm Hezbollah.
Writing on his Telegram channel Ben Gvir said “The agreement with Lebanon is a big mistake… Indeed, we are staying in most of the territory for now, but the state of Lebanon will not disarm Hezbollah,”.
“Members of the Lebanese government are Hezbollah ministers, and Lebanon cannot be trusted to take Hezbollah’s weapons … Only IDF soldiers will destroy Hezbollah, no other party will do it for us.”
Meanwhile, Hezbollah also condemned the framework agreement on Saturday, calling it a major mistake by the Lebanese government and that the group considers it null and void.
In a statement Qassem said, “The framework agreement in Washington is humiliating, shameful, and a surrender of sovereignty. This agreement is null and void, and the provisions of the Iranian-American memorandum of understanding must be implemented,”.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war on 2 March with rocket fire aimed at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
In response, Israel sent heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion to Lebanon, destroying thousands of homes and other buildings and still occupying parts of southern Lebanon now.
